Entry Point Care conversation: Verona Lachman, an R.N. Care Coordinator at Gundersen Health System, in La Crosse, Wisconsin, discusses advance care planning with Jim and Monique Howe. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2016.0107 Aging & Health Medicare Coverage For Advance Care Planning: Just The First Step What will it take for health care providers to begin talking about end-of-life care with their patients? BY DAVID TULLER W hen the administra- tion of President Barack Obama in- cluded coverage for discussions about end-of-life care in its proposed health care reform bill in 2009, former Repub- lican vice presidential candidate and Alaska governor Sarah Palin immediate- ly evoked fears of “death panels,”1 and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) warned of government pressure to “pull the plug on grandma.”2 The subsequent uproar doomed the provision, which was not included in what eventually would be- come known as the Affordable Care Act. That was then. Since the beginning of
